


Two, One too Many

by Crypterion_Moon



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Doppelganger, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Light Angst, Nightmares, Scarecrow's Fear Toxin (DCU), Twins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-19 12:01:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20209405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crypterion_Moon/pseuds/Crypterion_Moon
Summary: Damian would call himself fearless, but he knows even he has limitations. The fear toxin makes them reality in his mind and most of it, he isn't surprised by, but there's one kind he would never want happen and it may already be a thing





	Two, One too Many

If the stories were anything to run by, scarecrow’s hallucinogens were...effective to say the least. Deadly? Probably not, at least until Scarecrow decided to upgrade his serums to kill by fear, which, inevitably he will or is.  
The current dose now running through Robin’s system was doing a wonderful job making him live out his strongest fears. Most of them to do with his Father expressing disappointment in him.   
At times, illusions of his mother, Grandfather and everyone he knew would drift into his mind’s eye mocking his attempts at changing his very nature. He would always be a murder, a cold-blooded killer.  
He was aware he was laying down, exactly where he couldn’t tell but he was on the ground, huddled up. Pathetic.  
Even with his eyes closed he could hear the sneering and mockery.

“You’re trying to achieve the impossible, Grandson, you will never be anything more than I’ve trained you to be.”

“I raised you, Damian, you are mine. It doesn’t matter what your Father says, that won’t change.”

Damian hated it when his mother was like this, it reminded how much he was at her mercy, but that was nothing compared to the disgusted looks and mistrusting eyes his father and Grayson had for him.

“You can’t change who you are,” Batman said.

“I tried with you Damian, looks like it just isn’t going to work,”Grayson added.

Their voices echoes around and around in his head, repeating the same words over and over until he felt as if he was going to throw up. He ran, tried to escape them but they weren’t around him, they were in his brain, destroying his willpower.

“You don’t belong here, why don’t you go back to the League where you fit right in.” 

“You’re just like me kid, love me some killing.” Curse his fate, even Todd was mocking him with his smug twisted smile, he would kill the fool if he could stop shaking for a second. Damian let out a pathetic sob. Their words were so familiar, as if uttered from his own mouth at some point but for a moment, he couldn’t think when or where. He suspected it was when he was still with the League, he did learn it from Mother. She always had the nastiest things to say about the less competent subordinates, it was natural he’d pick it up.

Damian looked up and was surprised to find Drake, back turned towards him as if not paying attention at all to him. Out of everyone, he had not said a word, perhaps he could…

“Drake?”

Then the figure turned and he saw a normal, human face instead of the twisted grins and snarls. Damian was hopeful for a second, perhaps this would be his reprieve. Maybe the toxin was wearing off. Then Drakes look of shock turned to disapproval, the same one Damian saw every time he and Drake met face to face. Then out of the shadows another Drake stepped forward, mirroring his twin’s expression.

“No, no, no.”

“So, how does it feel to be pushed out?” they both said in unison. 

No no no no, not this. One Drake was bad enough, he could not deal with two at once. He stared up at them in horror as they sent him to his knees with the power of their glare alone. He used to be able to repay it back in kind, they’d have long stare downs each time. But here, he realizes that Drake was in fact, a powerful individual alone, perhaps even more so id he tried. Neither Drakes were even trying, all they had to do was...just...look unimpressed with him.

“Enjoy a taste of your own medicine, brat.”

“Teach you a lesson.”

They both reached out with claw-like hands, grabbing him by the wrists, dragging him away kicking and screaming towards the pit. There was blood everywhere. They were going lock him away.

“Who’s the pathetic one now?” They said in unison before throwing him in.

Damian gave one last cry before he felt a hand on his shoulder. He bolted upright, ready to throw a batarang in the next monster face only to end up staring at Grayson who looked like he was stuck between terror and relief. All a dream, a terrible, terrible dream. He wasn’t being alienated or isolated. Thank God. Damian realized he must have worried his mentor greatly, and the batarang was still in his hand.

“Gray...son?”

“Oh thank god!” he said, pulling Robin into a crushing hug, “I thought we were going to lose you, we had no idea what effects the serum would have.”

“What happened?” Damian asked, his mind still a blur from the effects of the nightmare.

“Scarecrow got you with the new formula, we didn’t have an antidote for it,” Grayson said, turning just slightly to reveal Batman, absorbed in his work. Damian could recognise that part of his workbench, it was where Father would usually synthesize antidotes.

Grayson called out to him, “Bruce, Bruce, he’s back, I think it’s wearing off!”

Almost immediately, Batman whirled around and rushed over to Damian’s side, not wasting a moment to do a physical check on his son. He said nothing all the way through until he deemed Damian healthy. Tension dropped from him with a sigh.

“You scared us all, son,” he said, then glared hard enough to make Damian feel guilty, “You should never have rushed off like that, you know how dangerous Scarecrow is when he gets the chance.”

“I’m...sorry, Father, I thought I had him,” Damian said sheepishly.

“It’s a good thing Black bat and Red Robin were there, they pulled you out immediately before Scarecrow could do anything else.”

Cain...and Drake? Of all the people, they saved him from being at the mercy of Crane’s insanity? He instinctively turned to look, searching for the two. But they weren’t there. Instead it was just Grayson and Father in the cave.

“They’ve gone off to deal with something else, but they should be back soon,” Grayson said with a grin, “Scarecrow is probably regretting his life decisions now.”

The duo, Damian learned had found him, crawling towards them both begging for help, but he was so high on fear toxin that his grasp on reality was still shaky. Every time they got close, he’d shrink away, so they both resolved to drag him back to the cave together. According to Grayson, they couldn’t carry him without him trying to to kick or punch them in the head so they did what they both learned from Batman, they dragged him by the scruff of his cape all the way to Drake’s car and into the cave. Having that relayed back to him was humiliating, to have both the overly competent bat and his rival witness him in a moment of pure weakness, to be crawling to them for help. He must have babbled on too. 

He didn’t see them, fortunately, that night. Sent up by Bruce to recover from the dose of toxin with a dose of Alfred’s famous hot chocolate to ward off the night terrors and ensure a deep sleep. The next day, he was on his way down after a restful night, when he witness Drake moving, no, drifting across the doorway and out into the courtyard. He followed the older Robin outside and after some confusing winding paths around the expanse of the garden, he rounded a corner and found himself staring the back of what looked like two Drakes.

“No no no no,” he whispered under his breath, it should be finished now, the serum’s effects should be long gone, unless, last night was all an illusion and he was still trapped in the nightmare. He inched forward slowly, attempting to delay the inevitable. It was like being in one of Todd’s stupid horror favorites where the protagonist was forced face a monster, he was forced to face his fears. But he was a trained assassin and vigilante damn it, he WILL do this.  
He snuck up right behind the two and was about to lunge when both turned to look at him, and to his embarrassment, they were not doppelgangers. Both Cain and Drake stared at him with a mixture of confusion and amusement that disturbingly mirrored each other. Cain wore one of Drake’s spare shirts, an extra of the same design he’d bought some time ago by accident. 

“Could...sense you coming,” Cain said.

“You’re not as subtle as you think you are.”

Instead of a retort though, Damian fell backwards releasing a breath he didn’t realize he’d be holding. This, would haunt him for many years to come.

**Author's Note:**

> This idea sounded better in my head but I've already written it, the damage is done.
> 
> Based on just one scene where Damian walks up to two Tim's and realises that it's actually Cass and Tim because they look like they could be twins and twins are terrifying and you can't change my mind.
> 
> (Shudders)


End file.
